River Nore

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Hiberno-English Template:Infobox river The River Nore (Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}})<ref name="logainmRiverNore"/> is one of the principal rivers (along with the River Suir and River Barrow) in the South-East Region of Ireland. The Template:Convert river drains approximately Template:Convert of Leinster and Munster,<ref name="Irishfisheries River Nore Fishing"/><ref name="serbd.com"/> that encompasses parts of three counties (Tipperary, Laois, Kilkenny). Along with the River Suir and River Barrow, it is one of the constituent rivers of the group known as the Three Sisters.

Starting in the Devil's Bit Mountain, County Tipperary, the river flows generally southeast, and then south, before its confluence with the River Barrow at Ringwood, and the Barrow railway bridge at Drumdowney, County Kilkenny, which empties into the Celtic Sea at Waterford Harbour, Waterford.

The long term average flow rate of the River Nore is 42.9 cubic metres per second (m³/s)<ref name="serbd.com"/> The river is home to the only known extant population of the critically endangered Nore freshwater pearl mussel, and much of its length is listed as a Special Area of Conservation.<ref name=nore>River Barrow and River Nore (IE0002162). Site Synopsis Template:Webarchive - National Parks and Wildlife Service, Republic of Ireland. Natura 2000 (data set Template:Webarchive) - European Environment Agency.</ref>

NameEdit

Nore is an anglicisation of the river's Old Irish name An Eoir;<ref>"Breandán Ó Cíobháin has confirmed that the modern name ... An Fheoir does represent the early form An Eoir ... with an initial sound that was represented in English as 'yeo'", and therefore cognate with Ioriponte, the original name of Jerpoint, in Kilkenny. (An Chomhairle Oidhreachta/The Heritage Council, 2007, Newtown Jerpoint, County Kilkenny: Conservation Plan. Dublin, Heritage Council, p.53.)</ref> the modern Irish name is An Fheoir. As such, the name is believed to be derived, etymologically, from Old Irish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}: "green bank or shoreland."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Modern Irish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} means "green bank, edge or shore of sea, lake or river". In regard to "An Fheoir, the Nore (g. -e, al. An Eoir); al. Feor, cf. feora", Dinneen's Dictionary (1927) states: "Feoir g. -e, and Feorach, f. border, brim, edge; a stream or rivulet.”<ref>Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla, Patrick S. Dinneen (ed.) 1996, (1st pub. 1927) reprinted 1996), p. 447.</ref>

The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee (Félire Óengusso Céli Dé), published some time before the year 824, mentions the river: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "the cold-pure Eoire ."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A Middle Irish reference, from before 1420, refers to the Fiond-chlár fairsing na Feoire "fair wide plain of the Feoir".<ref>Archive.org, "The topographical poems of John O'Dubhagain and Giolla na naomh O'Huidhrin," modern translation by John O’Donovan published in 1862.</ref>

CourseEdit

File:Bridge on the Nore. Kilkenny.jpg

Bridge over the Nore in Kilkenny

The Nore rises on the eastern slopes of the Devil's Bit Mountain in the townland of Borrisnoe, County Tipperary. It then flows south-eastwards to County Laois and County Kilkenny before joining the River Barrow just north of New Ross near the Barrow Bridge.<ref name="Hughes1863">Template:Harvnb.</ref> The river passes near Durrow, County Laois then through Ballyragget, the city of Kilkenny and then the villages of Bennettsbridge and Thomastown. Further south, it forms a picturesque V-shaped river valley, particularly notable near the village of Inistioge, the tidal limit. Major tributaries of the Nore include the Dinan, the Breagagh at Kilkenny City, the King's River, the Little Arrigle and the Black Water.

File:Riverbykilkennycastle1.jpg

The river nore as seen from Kilkenny Castle

List of places along the river.

List of tributaries

River Erkina
River Dinan (Dinin, Deen)
White Horse (Mountrath River)
Breagagh
King's River
Little Arrigle
Black Water

Geology and morphologyEdit

The Nore rises on a sandstone base but the catchment soon turns to limestone and remains so to the sea. The countryside is one of mixed farming, with some tillage, quite a bit of pasture and dairying and some bloodstock. The river has a fairly steep gradient but the flow is checked by innumerable weirs and it is probably true to say that shallow glides are the pre-dominant feature.<ref name="Irishfisheries River Nore Fishing"/>

HistoryEdit

File:Thomastown64.jpg

River Nore at Thomastown in County Kilkenny

In pre-Famine years, there were many water-powered industries in the Nore valley, particularly in the ten-mile (16 km) stretch between Kilkenny City and Thomastown, including breweries, woolen mills, sawmills, marble works, distillaries and grain mills. Flax and linen were produced just north of Kilkenny City.

RecreationEdit

Kilkenny fishing club has extensive fishing rights on the River Nore and its tributary, the River Dinan. Popular with anglers, it holds brown trout and salmon.Template:Citation needed<ref name="Irishfisheries River Nore Fishing"/>

Some of these weirs along the river have good playboating qualities. The river is long and mostly flat and dotted with weirs at most of the villages it passes through.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Salmon runs on the river Nore were interrupted in 2005 and 2006 by a flood relief scheme in Kilkenny city carried out by the Office of Public Works. Initially budgeted at €13.1 million, the scheme was delivered at a cost in excess of €48 million<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and did not contain suitable fish passes. This oversight has since been rectified at additional expense and salmon can now ascend the river upstream of Kilkenny city.

ReferencesEdit

FootnotesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project Template:Americana Poster

{{#invoke:Navbox|navbox}} Template:Authority control Template:Coord